The F1 thread

TimmyO

Fretwired said:

Oh Lando .. McLaren should have told him that the rain was going to get heavier (as Merc did with Lewis). Lewis gets his 100th win but advantage Red Bull in the championship.

Yes - sounds like (I only saw snippets) Merc were firmer with their experienced man than McLaren were with their less experienced guy - real
shame but he and they will doubtless learn a lesson and it’s clear that they are right there now 

DesVegas

wonderful stuff by Lewis here 

Boromedic

Gutted for Lando, such a shame. I wonder if now Lewis has struck that 100th win off his chart he will settle a bit and take the fight to Max a bit more. It has seemed that the 100th win was proving to be a bit of an albatross.

Fair play to Max, I know the rain allowed him to make up them last few places, he seemed nailed on for 6th otherwise, which was a good result anyway. Getting second, is like a let off. Great race otherwise and Socchi is usually dull. 

thumpingrug

My heart was in my mouth for the last 6 laps of today's race.  Much as I wanted Lewis to get his 100th win, Lando drove a fantastic race and looked to be on for his very first race win.  Did the exuberance of youth replace the sensible decision making to come into the pits and change to the wet weather tyres.  Lewis held off for one lap but heeded to the call from the team and even though he came out 30 seconds behind he was making up more than 10-15 seconds a lap before Lando slid off.  Great race today and Max drove well to come from the back.  

Cols

Ominous for Hamilton.  Verstappen managed to carve his way through the field from the very back on a circuit which didn’t suit the Red Bull.  The second place was fortunate, but he’s now dispensed with his engine penalty and grid drop and only has tracks which suit the RB up to the end of the season.

Simonh

Verstappen got lucky twice, once by not crashing into leclerc and then when the rain came. Let’s not forget he got overtaken on merit by alonso…

That said nobody ever won a championship without a bit of luck on their side.

fretmeister

Alonso was mighty.

I hate to think what he would be doing in a Merc or Red Bull at the moment. Doesn't look like he's lost anything with age.

Boromedic

He'd be getting beaten by Hamilton and Verstappen, he's great, but even at his best Lewis still beat him in his rookie year. 

Cols

Alonso’s on record stating he wouldn’t want to drive against Verstappen in Red Bull.  He can see the extent to which the team is built around Max and doesn’t feel that any driver in the other car can realistically compete against him.

Fretwired

Cols said:

Ominous for Hamilton.  Verstappen managed to carve his way through the field from the very back on a circuit which didn’t suit the Red Bull.  The second place was fortunate, but he’s now dispensed with his engine penalty and grid drop and only has tracks which suit the RB up to the end of the season.

Max eventually ran out of road and was stuck behind some fast midfield cars .. and Russia does suit the Red Bull. They only took a new engine as Max had a grid penalty and Horner expected a Mercedes lockout at the front of the grid. Before the race, Horner said Max should easily make the top 5 which he did when the rain came. There's no point in taking an engine penalty on a track on which you can't overtake as you'll remain at the back of the pack and lose too many points.

I love the way Bottas didn't even attempt to defend when Max turned up on his gearbox .. :-)

Boromedic

Hahaha, yeah Bottas basically drove off the circuit to let him by. If I was Toto I'd sub him out now, he's barely meeting his contractual obligations, surely?

Simonh

I think you are right - he is like a mardy teenager at this point.

TimmyO

Ditching him now is unrealistic and unnecessary - he's said he'll move over for Lewis if asked, he is capable of driving the car to it's potential for team track position to work (all other things being normal) and he has a bucket load of Merc insider info in his head. 

He'll see the season out and probably put in a couple of good performances along the way 

chillidoggy

Finally a decent Sochi GP!

skullfunkerry

Qatar has been officially confirmed for November. Just had a look at a couple of laps on YouTube; looks like there might be one or two corners where overtaking could be possible... hopefully it'll be better than Abu Dhabi 

Cols

skullfunkerry said:

Qatar has been officially confirmed for November. Just had a look at a couple of laps on YouTube; looks like there might be one or two corners where overtaking could be possible... hopefully it'll be better than Abu Dhabi 

Not a high bar to clear, but Qatar might just clatter into it regardless…

The track looks flat and featureless; Abu Dhabi at least has a pretty backdrop to distract from the dull racing.  My expectations are low.

TimmyO

re this: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/alfa-romeo-urges-for-f1-rules-rethink-after-norris-pitlane-entry-incident/6678150/

surely they are missing the point - if a penalty (and attempting to not get it) is meant to encourage safer behaviour then surely in this case crossing the pit lane entry line rather than go around another lap on slicks in full wet conditions is arguably the safer option.

I get that they could have penalised him and there's be little to complain about, but it's like people wilfully ignore the bigger picture to get a headline. 

In one way I agree that the rule SHOUL be looked at - it should explicitly allow for stewards to either penalise or not based on the context in which the line is crossed. If negligently or aggressively late then have at it, if context clearly makes that something that would ENCOURAGE a less safe action, then don't. 

chillidoggy

But surely the offence is absolute? He either crossed the line, or he didn’t. Same as the pit exit, and speeding in the pit lane. I very much doubt whether Lando was calmly assessing whether it was safer to cross the line, rather he was looking for the quickest way to pit.

TimmyO

chillidoggy said:

But surely the offence is absolute? He either crossed the line, or he didn’t. Same as the pit exit, and speeding in the pit lane. I very much doubt whether Lando was calmly assessing whether it was safer to cross the line, rather he was looking for the quickest way to pit.

Indeed. As I say, as written it’s a slam dunk - can’t be argued that to apply a penalty would be “wrong” under the rule as written. 

My point is that it’s a rule that in some (eg these) circumstances nudges behaviour toward the more dangerous of 2 options. Which is not its intention. 

Simonh

I think the intent of the rules is to stop late crossing of the line on entry, in landos case he couldn’t stop and crossed the line before recrossing to go back in